It’s the beginning of budget time for most municipalities and North Perth held its budget vision meeting Monday night.
Councillors all proposed things they would like to see done for 2017, and budget chair Matt Richardson had some ideas.
“The biggest thing to look at this year is to keep expenses in check, but that’s a year to year thing. Obviously, the cross-walks are a big thing for me, with pedestrian safety, that’s something I’ve noticed as a lifelong resident here," he says.
Richardson also says a drainage plan for northwest Listowel would be ideal. Other common suggestions included upgrades to the Monkton Fire Hall, and the Monkton and Atwood libraries.
He also notes that the vision meeting is an early part of the process.
“Next steps involve bringing forward preliminary numbers, staff have some direction tonight, so they’ll bring those forward," says Richardson. "Usually capital is going to come first, so the capital expenditures for what staff would like to get done for 2017. We will get that done first and find out what their wish-list is.”
Richardson says the operational costs will get worked out, and they’ll wait for numbers from the school board among other things, in trying to work out final budget numbers heading into 2017. The municipality is discussing ideas to engage the public in voicing their opinions on the budget, like having a dedicated email people could send things to, and even having coffee-house forums for people to attend.
Lastly, as far as potential tax increases, Richardson notes the budget process is still in preliminary stages, so it’s hard to gauge that, but he says funding cuts in many areas will hurt all municipalities.
“It’s very preliminary at this point, and funding cuts hurt everyone," he says. "We’ve lost just a ton of money over the last few years with things like OMPF cuts, and it’s very challenging. But as far as putting a number on potential tax increases, it’s far to preliminary at this point.”
